FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 5, 2025
Pretrial Motions Hearing Starts September 8 for Four Stop Cop City RICO Defendants
More Than 60 Motions To Be Heard, Including Motions to Dismiss, Suppress Evidence, and General and Special Demurrers, Potentially Impacting All 61 RICO Defendants
ATLANTA, GA – A pretrial hearing will begin September 8 for four Stop Cop City defendants indicted in August 2023 on State RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) conspiracy charges. More than 60 motions have been filed by co-defendants Francis Carroll, Spencer Liberto, Jamie Marsicano, and Alexis Papali, including motions to dismiss and suppress evidence, as well as general and special demurrers, which could affect the case outcomes for all 61 RICO defendants. A press conference will be held Monday after the hearing concludes.
The 61 Cop City defendants currently awaiting trial were arrested on different dates beginning in late 2022 at various locations across Georgia. The RICO indictment filed by Georgia Attorney General (AG) Chris Carr alleges a sweeping conspiracy centered around defendants’ opposition to Cop City. All 61 defendants pled not guilty in November 2023, but no one has been tried, and no trials have been scheduled yet.
What: Pretrial hearing for four Stop Cop City RICO defendants
When: Hearing begins Monday, September 8 at 9:30am
Where: Fulton County Superior Court, 185 Central Ave SW, Courtroom 4D
The hearing can also be viewed virtually at: https://www.youtube.com/@AtlPressCollective/streams.
A press conference will be held outside of the courthouse on Monday after the hearing concludes at approximately 5pm.
In addition to motions filed by defense attorneys in the first trial group, general and special demurrers are expected to be argued by RICO expert Don Samuel. Samuel is the lawyer for the three Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF) defendants whose home was raided in May 2023 by the Atlanta Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, three months before AG Carr filed RICO charges against 61 Stop Cop City defendants. While the demurrers are on behalf of the three ASF defendants, they are seeking a dismissal of the entire indictment, which would have implications for all 61 co-defendants.
“The indictment in this case is extraordinary in the breadth and depth of its inadequacies,” reads the first sentence of one of the ASF’s demurrers. The demurrers detail how Count One of the indictment fails to properly allege the elements of the offense of a RICO conspiracy, fails to factually identify the basis for the allegations, fails to adequately allege the dates of the offense and the dates the defendants allegedly joined the conspiracy, and fails to allege the identities of co-conspirators. The demurrers also argue that the AG is using the indictment to criminalize First Amendment-protected activity.
The RICO case has been plagued with problems, including a number of evidentiary issues. In addition to violating multiple discovery deadlines, the AG’s Office violated multiple defendants’ constitutional rights in July 2024 by sharing attorney-client privileged communications with prosecutors, police, and each RICO defense team. A couple of months later, in September 2024, the prosecution was forced to drop money laundering charges against the three ASF defendants. In another blow to the prosecution, Domestic Terrorism charges were dismissed last month in DeKalb County against RICO trial defendant Jamie Marsicano.
“Sixty-one people have been facing RICO charges for over two years, and some of us are finally getting our motions heard,” said Jamie Marsicano, one of the RICO defendants moving to dismiss their charges. “Our lives have been paused and our freedom suspended by an indictment that is clearly targeting what the state believes are anarchist political views.”
“We look forward to our day in court, which we have been eagerly awaiting since we filed numerous motions by this case’s first deadline of March 15, 2024,” comments Xavier T. de Janon, attorney for Jamie Marsicano. “The DeKalb County Superior Court has recognized that the State violated my client’s rights through its prosecution there, and we are ready to argue that the same could occur in Fulton County without the Court’s intervention.”
Over 170 people have been arrested so far during protests against Cop City. The facility was completed this year despite mass opposition from Atlanta residents, including a multi-year campaign with a wide range of tactics from environmentalists, abolitionists, students, teachers, anarchists, Indigenous activists, faith leaders and others. A 2023 ballot initiative petition effort to put Cop City to a direct vote by Atlanta residents collected over 116,000 signatures, more than double the votes that Mayor Andre Dickens received in 2021, but local officials refused to verify the signatures.
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For more information on the sweeping criminal cases, and ways to support the defendants and the movement to Stop Cop City, go to: weelauneethefree.org and fireantmovementdefense.org.
